I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4250 

To promote category management principles within the Federal Government, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2017 

Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To promote category management principles within the 

Federal Government, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Buy Smarter and Save 

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL PROCUREMENT 

7 GOALS. 

8 (a) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Beginning with the first 

9 fiscal year following the date of the enactment of this Act, 

10 and for each succeeding fiscal year, the Director of the 


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1 Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with 

2 the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, the 

3 Category Management Leadership Council, and a rep4 resentative from each Executive agency that is not rep5 resented on the Category Management Leadership Coun6 cil, shall provide the President with recommendations for 

7 the establishment of the following: 

8 (1) An annual Governmentwide goal for Execu9 tive agencies to reduce the number of contracts for 

10 the procurement of common goods and services. 

11 (2) An annual Governmentwide goal for Execu12 tive agencies to increase spend under management. 

13 (3) An annual Governmentwide goal for Execu14 tive agencies to use category management to 

15 produce savings. 

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

17 (1) GOVERNMENTWIDE GOALS.—The President 

18 shall use the recommendations provided under sub19 section (a) to establish the annual Governmentwide 

20 goals described in such subsection. 

21 (2) INDIVIDUALIZED GOALS.—Notwithstanding 

22 paragraph (1), the Director, in consultation with the 

23 Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy and 

24 the Category Management Leadership Council, may 

25 establish specific annual goals for procurement and 


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1 savings that are customized for an individual Execu2 tive agency, which may include goals relating to con3 tract reduction and spend under management. 

4 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF FEDERAL PRO5 CUREMENT GOALS. 

6 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 90 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall de8 velop and issue guidance, in accordance with the require9 ments described in subsection (b) and the considerations 

10 described in subsection (c), for Executive agencies on the 

11 implementation of the goals established under section 

12 2(b). 

13 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The guidance issued under 

14 subsection (a) shall provide, at a minimum, for the fol15 lowing: 

16 (1) The maintenance of a category hierarchy 

17 for common goods and services to be procured using 

18 category management, consistent with the consider19 ations described in subsection (c). 

20 (2) The implementation of Governmentwide 

21 standards, policies, and guidelines for category man22 agement for Executive agencies. 

23 (3) The establishment of a single authoritative 

24 source for Governmentwide procurement data that 


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1 enables category management analytics and report2 ing. 

3 (4) The maintenance and regular update of a 

4 set of criteria for, and list of, preferred Government5 wide contract vehicles. 

6 (5) A description of the specific data required 

7 to be submitted by each Executive agency to the Di8 rector relating to the implementation of the goals es9 tablished under section 2(b). 

10 (6) Guidance on calculating and verifying an11 nual contract reduction, spend under management, 

12 and savings. 

13 (7) The establishment of standards for Execu14 tive agencies to measure progress with respect to the 

15 implementation described in paragraph (2). 

16 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing guidance under 

17 subsection (a), the Director shall take into consideration 

18 the application of category management in a manner 

19 that— 

20 (1) maintains a strong industrial and manufac21 turing base in the United States; 

22 (2) promotes continuous effective competition; 

23 (3) to the greatest extent applicable, complies 

24 with the Governmentwide goals for procurement conVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Nov 05, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4250.IH H4250

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1 tracts established under section 15(g) of the Small 

2 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)); 

3 (4) maintains regular consultation with and 

4 outreach to entities in the private sector; 

5 (5) maintains consistency with international 

6 trade agreements; 

7 (6) accounts for the benefits and costs of the 

8 procurement of common goods and services; 

9 (7) emphasizes the procurement of common 

10 goods and services that are procured routinely and 

11 in large amounts; and 

12 (8) facilitates the ability to conduct a spend 

13 analysis under section 4(b). 

14 (d) STANDARDS, POLICIES, AND GUIDELINES.—Not 

15 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 

16 this Act, the Administrator for Federal Procurement Pol17 icy, in consultation with the Category Management Lead18 ership Council, shall prescribe regulations or issue guid19 ance as necessary to implement the Governmentwide 

20 standards, policies, and guidelines described in subsection 

21 (b)(2). 

22 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

23 the end of each fiscal year for which a goal is established 

24 under section 2(b), the Administrator for Federal Pro25 curement Policy shall submit to Congress a report on the 


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1 implementation of this Act, which shall include, at a min2 imum, the following: 

3 (1) The progress of the Federal Government in 

4 implementing the goals established under section 

5 2(b). 

6 (2) An assessment of the performance of each 

7 Executive agency in implementing the goals estab8 lished under section 2(b). 

9 (3) The progress achieved by each Executive 

10 agency in implementing category management. 

11 (4) Small business participation. 

12 (5) The state of Governmentwide procurement 

13 data in terms of accuracy, accessibility, and com14 prehensiveness in data systems such as the Federal 

15 Procurement Data System–Next Generation 

16 (FPDS–NG), the System for Award Management 

17 (SAM), the Contractor Performance Assessment Re18 ports System (CPARS), and Acquisition Gateway. 

19 (6) The list of preferred Governmentwide con20 tract vehicles, as required under subsection (b)(4). 

21 (7) Such findings and recommendations as the 

22 Administrator considers appropriate. 


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1 SEC. 4. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE 

2 AGENCIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of an Executive agency 

4 shall take the following actions to support category man5 agement efforts in the agency: 

6 (1) Establish agencywide goals for category 

7 management efforts in support of the goals estab8 lished under section 2(b). 

9 (2) Designate a category management account10 ability official. 

11 (3) Issue a policy that outlines the role, author12 ity, and responsibilities of the category management 

13 accountability official and category management 

14 practices for the agency. 

15 (4) Identify preferred multi-agency and agency16 specific category management vehicles in use. 

17 (5) Establish and regularly update utilization 

18 and spend under management goals for category 

19 management efforts. 

20 (6) Develop standards to track and assess com21 pliance with the goals established under section 2(b), 

22 consistent with the guidance issued under section 

23 3(a). 

24 (b) SPEND ANALYSIS.—Not later than 180 days after 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act, and in accordance 

26 with the guidance issued under section 3(a), the head of 


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1 an Executive agency shall conduct a spend analysis of pro2 curements by the agency during fiscal year 2017 to estab3 lish a baseline for spend under management. 

4 SEC. 5. STUDY BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 

5 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States shall— 

8 (1) conduct a study to assess the impact of the 

9 use of Governmentwide procurement contracts and 

10 Federal supply schedules on the taxpayer; and 

11 (2) submit to Congress a report on the results 

12 of such study. 

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

16 agency’’ means the following: 

17 (A) An Executive department (as defined 

18 in section 105 of title 5, United States Code). 

19 (B) Environmental Protection Agency. 

20 (C) National Aeronautics and Space Ad21 ministration. 

22 (D) Agency for International Development. 

23 (E) General Services Administration. 

24 (F) National Science Foundation. 

25 (G) Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 


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1 (H) Office of Personnel Management. 

2 (I) Small Business Administration. 

3 (J) Social Security Administration. 

4 (2) CATEGORY MANAGEMENT.—The term ‘‘cat5 egory management’’ means a business practice for 

6 reducing duplication in contracting, more effectively 

7 leveraging the buying power of the Federal Govern8 ment, and promoting the use of best-in-class solu9 tions and practices throughout the Federal Govern10 ment. 

11 (3) COMMON.—The term ‘‘common’’ means, 

12 when used with respect to a good or service, that 

13 such good or service is— 

14 (A) procured by all or most Executive 

15 agencies; 

16 (B) not unique to the mission of an indi17 vidual Executive agency; 

18 (C) interchangeable between Executive 

19 agencies; and 

20 (D) generally available commercially. 

21 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

22 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg23 et. 


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1 (5) SPEND UNDER MANAGEMENT.—The term 

2 ‘‘spend under management’’ means the number 

3 equal to the quotient obtained by dividing— 

4 (A) the total spending on preferred Gov5 ernmentwide contract vehicles; by 

6 (B) the total spending on all Government7 wide contract vehicles. 

Æ 


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